2026 Clash at Bowman Gray harkens back to COVID era for NASCAR

The Cook Out Clash NASCAR race weekend at Bowman Gray Stadium is set to be a one-day show due to impending inclement weather. 

A projected snowstorm that is set to hit Winston-Salem and the rest of North Carolina forced NASCAR to postpone Saturday's on-track activity at Bowman Gray to Sunday and cancel the scheduled heat races. 

Practice and qualifying will take place on Sunday afternoon, with the top 20 qualifiers making the Clash. The top-two finishers in the last-chance qualifying race (Sunday, 6 p.m. ET, FOX) will also make the show, as will the highest finishing driver in the 2025 standings who doesn't qualify. 

2026 Clash eerily reminiscent of NASCAR's COVID protocols

NASCAR still raced during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 and 2021, but its race weekends were condensed just like the upcoming race weekend at Bowman Gray will be. 

When NASCAR returned from its COVID break in May 2020, there was no more practice and qualifying for the remainder of the 2020 campaign. Teams simply showed up on Sunday and raced. 

In 2021, only eight Cup Series race weekends had practice and qualifying as the sport began to try and get back to normal. 

And while practice and qualifying returned in 2022, COVID had drastically changed it. Practice times were limited as a cost-saving measure, cutting race weekends by a day in many cases. Practice and qualifying also took place in back-to-back sessions, eliminating dead time in between. 

That's a practice that will continue into the 2026 season, save for select race weekends. 

But not since the COVID era has NASCAR seen a true, one-day show. That will change on Sunday, when fans who brave the chilly North Carolina weather will be treated to a day full of NASCAR action at Bowman Gray Stadium.

The Cook Out Clash will go green shortly after 8 p.m. ET on Sunday, with coverage on FOX, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.